Less than a fortnight from round one of the 2017 NRL season, coach Craig Bellamy is still struggling to figure out who fits best as Melbourne’s five-eighth.
The Storm’s final pre-season trial in Hobart on Saturday resulted in a four-point loss to Canterbury, who led for the entire contest and finished 28-24 winners.
More important than the scoreline for Bellamy is player performance and he has some long sessions coming up watching footage of the clash.
“It’s still far from settled to be quite honest,” the coach said of his quest to find a replacement playmaker for Blake Green after his defection to Manly.
“We’ll have a look (at the footage) and see what we thought and get a bit of an idea of what the senior players thought as well.”
Leading into the contest, captain Cameron Smith said if Cameron Munster impressed at five-eighth, he would probably wear the No.6 in round one.
But the 22-year-old played mostly in his usual position of fullback on Saturday, coming forward only for two conversion attempts, both of which failed.
“(Munster) is a wonderful player,” Bellamy said.
“He could be just as good at five-eighth … he probably needs a little more time there to do that but he’s a very talented footy player – he’s a smart footy player; he’s strong; he’s skilful.
“Basically, any position he plays he could make a go out of it or do it really well if he’s had a bit of time.”
Brodie Croft, 19, also had a stint at five-eighth on Saturday and was another in contention for the No.6 jersey.
Bellamy noted a steady return by some of the more-experienced players.
Smith made his first pre-season appearance after Four Nations duties at the end of 2016, as did fellow big name Cooper Cronk, with both spending only limited time on ground.
The Storm will look to step up before they travel to Belmore on March 3 for round one of the new season in a return clash with the Dogs.
“Our big improvement is going to be in those older players because they didn’t come back and train until late because they were overseas with the Australian and New Zealand sides,” Bellamy said.
“To have a run, get a little time in and blow a few cobwebs out, that will help us enormously in two weeks’ time.”
There’s still no firm word on the return of Billy Slater after his second shoulder reconstruction, with Bellamy saying only that the 33-year-old is “close”.
For the Bulldogs, Kerrod Holland firmed as a contender to fill one of the side’s four vacancies in their run-on 13, with the 24-year-old kicking four out of five conversion attempts and proving strong on the wing outside Josh Reynolds.
Moses Mbye left the ground during Saturday’s game but Bulldogs assistant coach David Penna described the move as precautionary after the key player suffered a knock to the elbow.
“He’ll be right.”
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Winx has never won a trial either
Joe
Roar Rookie
I'd say apart from the number 6 Craig needs to get the teams head space right. The team that started which I presume was the best 13 were walloped by a rampaging Dogs team and were down 18-0 before the Dogs started chopping and changing their team. The team that made all the points 2nd half was basically the 2nd stringers playing the Dogs 2nd stringers. There was numerous dropped ball, missing tackles and soft tries...pretty much everything that the Storm is not known to give up. That said the Dogs were outstanding and it looks like Des has worked his magic in the off season. I know its still trials and Storm have never won a trial but I think what the Dogs displayed in the opening 20 before they clocked off against a full strength Storm side would worry a lot of fans coming into round 1 where they will have the advantage of playing at Belmore. I think maybe they're training with Billy at 1 and Munster at 6 because when Munster played 6 with Young T at the back they looked extremely disjointed and clunky. I think they've decided that Munster at 6 is the best way to go forward but he looks like he's got a long way to go and a lot to pick up. The only good thing to come out of yesterday's trial is the depth of the forward pack. Nelson Asofa-Solomona is going to be a beast this year as he brought the Storm back into the game. Vincent Leiluai I think will score himself a bench spot as he was one of the Storms best and will be unlucky if he isn't in the 17. Kaufusi was rocks and diamonds and likely to be Proctors replacement. Josh Ado-Carr has cemented his wing spot with an excellent game and Curtis Scott played himself out of the 17 with his weak defense at center leading to 2 Dogs tries. The fact he was up against a relative rookie Kerrod Holland (who was outstanding) made his performance even worse. Cheyse Blair and Chambers will be the centers. Storm fans will be hoping Billy gets back on the park this year.
Justin Kearney
Roar Rookie
Storm played about twenty minutes of decent football yesterday. Not easy to guage anything from that effort.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Really...? Funny little charade by Bellamy but as if a coach like him is still umming and aahing about his 6 two weeks out from round 1.